Saturday, July 21, 2012

What (NOT!) to Wear

This post is all about what you should or should NOT wear. Fashion and beauty risks are fun to take, but only when you are showing off your assets and putting forth your best self. Follow our DO and DON'T lists when getting dressed if you want to look and feel your ultimate best.

DO

Balance out your loose and tight. If you wear a flowy top, consider skinny jeans as your bottom. If you wear a tight top, try something with a little breathing room on the bottom

Find a color that looks great on you and make it your signature. My feel good color is purple, so I am always trying to work my hue into an outfit.

Know what your assets are and that they may change over time. In college I was a runner and I had a totally toned body. What was my best body part? All of them! I've put on a few pounds since my uber athletic days, so now when I'm showing off I stick with my legs, which still look pretty good!

Try out some trends at work! Both of us have jobs where we work with kids so it's fun to add fun colors, patterns, and wacky jewelry to our outfits from time to time. If you keep your trends in check, it's easy to maintain a professional look at work but still look stellar!

Dress sexy without being "easy looking." A nice pair of heels and skirt that's semi short and doesn't show your junk will make you look sexy AND classy. -Kerrie Rettig-Barker of www.gorgeousglamblog.com

Wear brown and black together or blue and black together, as long as the color palette is more than a few shades apart. If it looks intentional, it won't be clash-y. My favorite way to do this is pairing a light brown belt with jeans and a black shirt.

Heels are always a do with skinny jeans. If you wear nude heals that match your skintone, you will appear even taller. If you're not comfortable in heels, start out with some cute kitten heels.

Go bold. Pick one item or area to go bold in. For example, I may pull my hair back in a low bun with a black top and dark skinny jeans along with a bright red lip or some statement earrings. And yes everyone can wear skinny jeans, you just need to wear them with the right top and find the right style. I like the ones from Macy's brand.

Get a high maintenance hair color, like bold streaks of dark and light together, IF you can maintain it. But keep in mind that if your hair is a statement piece you should minimize accessories.

DON'T

Wear all your "best things" at once. This is probably the scariest don't I've ever seen. You have a gorgeous dress, an awesome waist-cinching belt, cute leggings, brand new red lipstick, bright peep toe shoes, a sparkly scarf, and some statement earrings. Worn individually, you could look fabulous in each of these, but worn together, yikes!

Wear something that doesn't match your body. If you are super tall like I am, you may not be able to pull of some of the cute shorter dresses you see in the store because they'll show your coochie!

Wear ankle booties if you are shorter. This will draw the attention to that line and make you appear shorter. The exception is if they are nude colored.

Give in to fads if they aren't you. Just because neon or flowy dresses are in style, doesn't mean you have to wear it. If you're not comfortable in it, that will show. Or start out simple for example with a neon bangle or a flowy top with skinny jeans.

Wear all baggy clothes if you are plus size, this will actually make you appear larger. Instead, embrace your curves and show them off by wearing clothes that fit you as they should!